Amara (Siren) Phaseslam Melee Bis Gear and Stat Priorities (2024)

This Amara Phaseslam Melee build guide is split in 3 different pages.The other 2 pages are the build overview and the skills, which you can access by clicking the buttonsbelow.

As a build that relies on melee damage rather than weapon, having theright shield is the most important piece of gear for this build. You shouldlook try to farm a Ward from the Graveward boss as soon aspossible, due to the massive 300% Melee Damage bonus it gives while yourshields are depleted. Additionally, it offers a small amount of HealthRegeneration, which is very useful, due to the amount of time you will bespending with a depleted shield.

Psycho Stabber should be your primary weapon of choice for anyMelee build. The weapon naturally rolls with a 120% Melee Damage bonus, whichis the highest roll possible, making it the ideal choice for any Melee Damagebuild. MOARR Linoge is another Legendary weapon that can have a 120%Melee Damage bonus and is therefore on par with Psycho Stabber. However, theMelee Damage bonus for MOARR Linoge can roll lower than 120%, so take note of thedamage bonus before choosing to use the weapon.

Although you will spend nearly all of your time with your primary weaponequipped to maximise the damage of your melee attacks, you may find yourself ina situation where melee attacks are not viable, such as against flying enemiesor enemies in hard-to-reach places. For these scenarios, you should try to find aFace-puncher shotgun for your build. Face-puncher turns your melee damageinto weapon damage, allowing you to fully commit to melee damage and still havethe option to shoot enemies, should you need to.

For Class Mods, Breaker is significantly betterthan any other option. It has strong synergies with melee attacks, by providingup to 29% Damage Reduction, based on your distance from the enemy.Additionally, it will provide you a second skill point in Find Your Center, to add a further 100% Melee Damage, and an additional75% Melee Range after using your Action Skill.

For any melee build, Commander Planetoid is the ideal starting pointfor an Artifact. If provides a unique effect that adds a 69% Elemental DamageBonus to your melee attacks, with the specific Element it adds changing every5 seconds. Commander Planetoid is a Hybrid Artifact, which allows it toeffectively have the ability of an Epic-quality Artifact, in addition to its ownunique ability. For this, you should look to pair it with an effect likeRadiation Stone or Cryo Stone, which imbue your melee attackswith a further 80% melee damage in one of the 5 Elements. The name of the secondArtifact will merge itself onto your Commander Planetoid, changing the nameto Radiation Stone Commander Planetoid, for example.

In addition to the unique effects of Artifacts, the secondary stats theyoffer are also incredibly useful. The most important stat to have is 21%Action Skill Cooldown Rate. This cooldown reduction will greatly improve thefrequency of using your Phaseslam, which will provide you with a boost inboth survivability and mobility. The next secondary stat you should prioritiseis Elemental Damage. You should try to look for an Elemental Damage Bonus whichis the same Element as your artifact. However, even if it is of a differentElement, it will still add a small damage boost to the effect ofCommander Planetoid and, potentially, your Phaseslam as well. After these 2stats, any other choices are much less impactful, but you can still find usefuleffects like Luck, Move Speed, Max Health, and Health Regeneration.

The last gear slot, Grenade Mods, offers very little utility to the PhaseslamMelee build as they do not offer any stats to contribute to melee damage. Themost useful option for this build is Tran-fusion, which offers amoderate lifesteal effect, allowing you to use them to regain Health at adistance in those desperate situations.

Anointed rolls are special additional effects that can appear on weapons andshields at higher levels. The special effects relate to the use of actionskills and provide powerful temporary buffs.

The primary anointment you are looking for is 'After using Phaseslam,Melee Damage is increased by 200% for a short time'. If you are able to get thison both your weapons, and you should, it will provide a massive 400% bonus meleedamage after your Phaseslams and will allow you to tear throughenemies.

If you are not able to pick up the aforementioned anointment, you can alsolook for "On Action Skill End, Melee Damage is increased by 100% for a shorttime" as an alternative way to boost your melee damage.

If you are already happy with your damage, or you have not been able to pickup any of the other anointments on your weapon and shield, you can look for'After using Phaseslam, damage taken is reduced by 20% and movespeed isincreased by 12%', which will give you even more survivability while fightingat close range.

Very few mission rewards throughout the game support melee builds. This ispartly due to melee being a very niche strategy within Borderlands 3, but alsodue to the build having a large reliance on Artifacts and Class Mods, which donot get used until much later in the game. However, there are a couple ofextremely powerful rewards that will carry you a long way with this build.

The first mission reward for this build is the weapon, buttpl*g.This weapon is available very early in the game and is so strong it can stillbe used once you finish the game and move up to Mayhem 3. It offers a strong110% damage bonus, slightly less than that of Psycho Stabber, but comeswith the unique effect of doing double damage from behind. The weapon is aunique reward for completing the bonus objective of the "Dump on Dumptruck",given by Ellie on Pandora at the beginning of the game.

The second mission reward is from the "On the Blood Path" side mission onEden-6. The mission can be picked up in The Anvil from a harmless characternamed Ramsden. The mission can be completed in two different ways, but, in order toget the appropriate reward, it is important to side with Holden during thequest, which involves killing Ramsden for completion. As a reward, you willreceive the Brawler Unpaler, which gives a 180% melee bonus before yourshield is depleted, and is a great stepping stone before you get your hands on aWard.